Habilitation
by FreckledNerdyBirdy
Summary: Inspired by 'The Touch' on youtube and robot chicken. Soundwave awakes in the future where cassettes are no longer used.
1. Prologue

Howady ya'll! Well I'm taking a break from my other two stories I'm writing and decided to do a Transformers one with one of my friends from school as one of the characters. Lauren and I were both disappointed that Soundwave wasn't featured in the new movie. The short video "The Touch' on Youtube and the skit on Robot Chicken (episode 'Werewolf vs Unicorn') really inspired this. Poor Soundwave can't really hide in our society these days.

This story is based on Soundwave's spotlight in IDW Publishings where in 1984 he's in a stasis-lock in tape player mode, later in 2007 he's in a pawn shop where two guys debate on buying him. Our story opens in 2007 in our world.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the transformers, I don't own Lauren either, she is a real person.

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It is the year 2007; the treacherous Decepticons have conquered the Autobot's home planet of Cybertron. The Autobots now live on Earth as their new home, building forces to constrict and barricade Cybertron, thus not allowing Megatron's forces to leave the planet to expand and conquer the galaxy. With this boa constricting technique thus hopefully choking the Decepticon forces from resources the Autobots can defeat their enemies and crumbling the empire. But the Autobots aren't too concerned, the Decepticon population on Earth is extinct, or so they strongly believe. The humans sense no danger, continuing on with their care free lives safe from the cyber wars, expanding their technology in the digital age. 

One human in particular is enjoying her first hours of freedom from school for the day. Lounging in a spinning chair, feet propped up on a desk, she sat with a screwdriver in hand and computer key board in the other. The girl skillfully popped the keys off the keyboard, carefully taking the gadget apart, and tossed them on the desk that was littered with parts. Under her breath she muttered about her idiotic younger sister spilling soda pop on her prized computer and about how long it would take to clean and dry off. Apparently she happened to be in a foul mood.

It was plain that she was a computer and video game fanatic, consoles lined under her TV along with games, spare computer parts were organized on shelves, and other broken electronic gadgets scattered around her room. She would fix those later.

Not only did her room show evidence of her hobby but so did her body. Pale white skin told of the lack of sun she got, most likely due to staying in front of the boob tube and computer all day. She was plump around the middle, evidence of chocolate and Twinkies in her diet, yet she wasn't very fat. There was meat on her but not toned due to late of exercise; DDR and Wii didn't count. Long brown hair with bits of blonde was tied back to keep out her work space.With a frustrated sigh she pushed her glasses back up her nose with the back of her screwdriver hand. She glared out the open window that faced north, hoping for a breeze in the summer night air.

She grumbled, "Dad is so freak'n cheep, why can't we turn on the air condition?"

Turning back to her work, her chubby fingers removed the last button and she inspected the inside of the keyboard. Brown liquid swished back and forth and tiny sugar crystals frosted the sides. "Pepsi," she groaned," of all the pop in the world why Pepsi! That sugar will take weeks to scrub off, I told her to not bring food or drinks near the computer, more importantly I told her to stay away from mine and use the family one!" A knock interrupted her rant; in the doorway was one of her younger sisters.

"What do you want Rachel!" she spat.

Rachel only sneered at her, "Aw what's the matter Lauren? Did someone ruin your precious computer," she said in a baby voice.

Lauren rolled her eyes at her sister who was older than the one that broke the keyboard but was just as immature.

Her sister continued snickering, "Wow if you're mad about the keyboard I hate to see your face when you find what she left you in the disk drive,"

Lauren's eyes peaked above the rim of her glasses, "What!" Dropping her feet off the desk and bending over she push the eject button to the computer. The disk tray came out containing a slab of baloney with a smiley face in mustard. Lauren's face turned red as her temper rose. Rachel was clutching her sides in laughter but managed to duck as the baloney whizzed by her head and smacked the wall behind her in the hallway. It made a sick sucking noise as it slid down smearing mustard on the white wall.

Both froze as a roar erupted from down stairs. "LAUREN!"

"ooooo You're gonna get it!" Rachel sneered before creeping back to her room.

Lauren left her comfy chair and marched down stairs while preparing for a scolding.

"Look dad I'm sor…………" but she was cut off.

"Lauren I put fresh batteries in this thing today and the darn remote won't work!"

Her father banged it against the coffee table.

She asked, "Did you put in the right kind?"

"Yes," he huff slamming the TV remote on the table and walking in the kitchen to take away his frustration from the device. Picking up the remote, the tinker flipped it back in forth, looking for anything unusual. She wasn't an expert on fixing electronic but there was experience. Sighing, 'I might as well get started on taking it apart and finding the problem.' She opened the battery case and discovered it empty.

"Dad? You said you replaced the batteries?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"Well, there aren't any in here."

The father's head poked out of the kitchen's entrance. About that time the little glitch mouse that fried the computer walked by. "I saw Rachel take them and switch them to her CD player," squeaked the youngest while grabbing a gram cracker. At that unfortunate moment Rachel came down dancing in to her music. Her headphone thumped loudly, used to drown out the shouts of her father scolds. The girls' father's eyes narrowed and he yanked Rachel by the ear and dragged her off to another room; the same time ripping the music player from her and tossing it on the kitchen counter. In the other room shouts of 'you took the batteries and you are so cheap' filled the air. Lauren's mother stood at the sink, drying the dishes. "Lauren I think you should take those batteries to your room. You dad can live without the remote, he needs the exercise and getting up to change the channel won't hurt him." The eldest daughter nodded and removed the batteries from the player and headed back up stairs. But not without snickering to herself, 'Who's getting it now!"

On her way the phone rang, her mother answered and hollered, "Lauren, it's for you!"

"I'll get it in my room!"

Jogging to her room and picking up the cordless phone resting next to the dissected machine, a loud, high, chipper voice chirped from the line, "Howdy Lauren!" The tinker gave a soft smile, "Hi Torrie, what's going on?"

The voice replied in a southern accent, "Yaw got any plans fer tomorrow?"

"Not that I know of."

"Great! I'm plan'n on go'n to the antique store to see if they gots any new broken music boxes or even a cuckoo clock."

"Eh Torrie I don't think I can go, my youngest sister spilled Pepsi on my keyboard and I'm not in the best of moods."

"Aw come on, tomorrow is our first real day of summer break, and I'm leav'n in a week to work at my grandparents' house most of the summer; and I graduated this spring and have college in the fall, how many chances are we gonna have to hang out together this summer?"

Lauren bit her lip, true, with her friend going to college and her being a senior this year, that didn't give them much time. "Okay I'll go."

"Great! I pick you up at 8:00."

"Wait, what! Torrie it's summer I want to sleep in and………"

Too late, the line was dead.

"Crazy farm kid, always waking up at the crack of dawn."

Heaving a tired sigh Lauren glanced at the future puzzle on her desk, 'I don't want to mess with that now, might as well go to bed'.

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Okay there you have the opening. Sorry the first two chapters they circledmostly around the human characters, but it will switch to the Transformers later, just hang in there. 

Please read and review, I'd love to hear your thoughts or for grammar mistakes.


	2. Ancient Machinery

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers or Lauren or Torrie.

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Lauren's right cheek was plastered to the window as she nearly fell asleep; however, the bumpy ride made impossible. She moaned in her head, 'Why'd it have to be so early, this is ridiculous to have to get up at this time to do antique shopping.' She slumped against the window belonging to Torrie's 1999 Ford Ranger Pickup. The driver happily bounced with the truck, wearing a smile and singing, 'Oh just roll'n down the street, my little truck me!' 

Hard to believe that the person with long, auburn hair, acting like a child with a sugar rush was older than her, in fact a legal adult. Although Torrie was older she happened to be shorter than her friend. She also was also built small but was putting on a belly. Another video game fanatic that hardly ever more and had table manners that could rival a Tasmanian Devil. Wearing a black, baggy tee-shirt that said, 'White and Nerdy', blue denim bellbottoms, fingerless gloves, and cowboy boots, complete with 10 gallon hat, Torrie was cheerful and ready to seize the day. Lauren felt otherwise than her chipper friend.

They had been driving for twenty minutes to the outskirts of town to a little antique store. Lauren's stomach leapt for joy as the truck stopped in front of the shop. Torrie hopped out and bounded through the front door, the bell tied to it rang. Lauren slowly made her way inside not fully awake.

Twenty minutes later the two emerged from the building. Much to their dismay, what they original had been searching for did not turn up. Lauren held a sack containing parts for her broken PS2 controller and some for the recently broken computer. A man joined them lugging a grandfather clock over his shoulder toward the pickup bed. Torrie jumped up and down excitedly and wrung her hands in glee. The younger of the two gave the other a dull stare, "I can't believe you just spent your allowance on a broken grandfather clock!"

"Ah but a clock that can be fixed!" came the wise words of Torrie.

Lauren smacked her head with her hand; Torrie was her friend but was pretty strange. While her hobby concentrated on fixing electronics such as computers and stereos; Torrie was more prone to fix mechanical stuff including clocks, music boxes, and record players for some odd reason because people rarely ever used them anymore. The graduate was old fashioned, her truck only played tapes and getting an ipod was out of the question.

After a few swears and cursing the man load the grandfather clock. Torrie was already making her way for the driver's door when she stopped and noticed Lauren making her way across the street toward a pawn shop. She waved her friend to join her, "Hey Torrie you know who owns this place?" The young adult crammed her hands in her pant pockets and left her truck with a smug look, "Yaw, a ly'n, cheat'n, no good swindler." Lauren studied her friend's voice, it wasn't very friendly, but she shook it off and opened the door. "Well since we drove all the way out here I intent to at least that a look." Torrie shrugged and joined her.

Inside random objects littered the store. Guitars hung on hooks from the ceiling, tables were covered, varying from purses, ceramic figures, books, to clothes. In glass counters were knives, to jewelry, to guns, and watches. In a connected room, electronic parts and machines were stored but rather unorganized. Torrie leaned toward her companion on her tip pie toes and whispered, "The 'you break it you bought it' rule is highly enforced here. Be extremely careful and don't touch anything." Nodding her head in understandment she made her way to the electronics.

The owner of the pawn shop was perched on a stood reading the newspaper facing a mini black and white screen TV. On the screen was the news with the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime, making a speech on current conditions of the war light years away from Earth and something about supporting hydrogen cars. This barely caught her attention until a yellow Autobot with black fins on the side of his head and a red one with a black horned head popped on either side of the camera and yelled, "Were going to kick Megatron's metal (beep)." They grinned wildly until a pair of white hands landed on each others shoulder accompanied by, "Sideswipe, Sunstreaker why must everything you do aggravate me!" A white mech with ambulance symbols yanked them off screen. Prime gave a nervous glance of where the three mechs disappeared to and continued about the war, "Yes Mr. President, we feel certain that the war will end soon, even in human time. The Decepitcons have yet to escape our barricade and with their energon supply low and none of them on Earth to cripple our home forces we are in great shape." After that was said the story quickly changed. Lauren continued observing the store. In one of the corners were two guys arguing over a metallic trinket. Creeping closer she picked up part of the conversation.

"Dude! Can you believe that we use to use these things to listen to music?"

"That was like what………. The stone ages!"

Both laughed.

"Hey what's this in it?" Lauren could barely see what they were holding but what they pulled out of it was a black and gray cassette tape that they held above their heads and examined in the light.

"Ah man these things are so lame, give me that tape." Right then one of the seized the cassette and began to yank out the metallic ribbon from the inside. Lauren marched straight over to them, "Hey what are you doing!" The two boys were startled at being caught in the act of vandalizing and made a quick get away for the exit,knocking down a table, in the process, displaying clay vases that shattered on the floor. Lauren watched them leave and bent over the abandoned items. The black tape laid on the floor with its ribbon sprawled about. What they had been talking over at first was a square metal box. On closer observation it was a tape deck coated with dust. She picked both up curiously.

The racket from earlier attracted the store's owner who went into a frenzy at the mess. "What the heck, who, who," he questioned searching the floor for answers. Lauren answered, "Uh sir, those boys were destroying some of your items and" She was cut off.

The clerk wildly accused his finger at her, "You, you did this!"

"No, those guys did it, they were destroying this tape."

"Well you should have let them if it meant I wouldn't lose all my vases! Out, OUT!" He shoved her toward the exit.

"But your tape deck…….."

"No take it and get out, I don't want to see you in here ever again," and with that he slammed the door in her face.

Later, Torrie soon came out the door with a goofy grin on her face, "Wow, that's the first time I've ever seen anyone leave his place with free merchandise."

"Shut up and take me home," snapped Lauren.

"What ever," shrugged the driver and made her way toward her truck.

On the drive back, peering out of the corner of her eye, Torrie eyed Lauren's new gadget.

"Sooooo what did yaw get?"

Lauren dusted her glasses with her shirt; that pawn shop really fogged them up. "A destroyed cassette and a dusty tape deck." She sighed flipping the tape player in her hands. It was small and fit perfectly in her palm, where some of the dust had been wiped off, navy blue and chrome shone. The tape had its ribbon tied in knots and was a big squiggly mess.

Torrie shook her head, "I can fix that tape, I'm use to untying knots from all my fishing trips."

Lauren huffed, "You can have it, I don't listen to tapes that much." Tracing the case she pressed on the eject button that revealed five more tapes. Odd that it could hold that many. She pulled one out; the new tape was black and red with small traces of white. She looked over at the truck's tape player. "Can I play this?"

Torrie gave it a quick glance before returning her eyes to the road, "Yaw sure."

Lauren popped the cassette in and cranked the volume up. At first nothing but static, but gradually a low talking could be heard until booming metallic voices filled the cab. What the voices were discussing about was real difficult to understand. What was energon? As the recording continued it became obvious that whoever was speaking was making a list of who they wanted dead.

Both girls immediately ejected the tape and stored it back in the spacious tape deck. Torrie warily glanced at her friend, "I may no know who previously owned that thing but I do know you should either send it to the police or delete all that." Lauren nodded and failed to notice that her thumb had wiped the dust on the center of the case, exposing a familiar purple symbol.

That night Lauren sat at her desk contemplating. She managed to fix her keyboard and computer from noon till late that evening but now what? Her parents, two sisters, and younger brother were still at the theaters; she had refused to go see the movie using her broken computer as an excuse, but that was fixed now. She drummed her fingers on the wood surface of her furniture; staring into space, looking directly at the dusty, old tape player. She had offered it to Torrie earlier since she herself rarely used them anymore; she had CDs and an Ipod. Her pal refused saying if it was broken she couldn't fix it, that she only know how to fix gears not wires. Lauren gave an amused chuckle, the only wiring Torrie could do was connect a Super Nintendo to a TV, of course with a heavily detailed instruction booklet; Super Nintendos, another out of date piece of machinery that Torrie had in her collection of antiques.

She stared at the little boom box as if it were mocking her. Maybe she could fix it and give it to her friend as a college present? She sighed, "I might as well start on it." Reaching across her desk she plucked it from its corner and flipped the ON switch and hit play.

Nothing.

She frowned and opened the tape case and pulled out the five cassettes and scattered them around the desk surface. She recognized the black, red, and white one but the rest were all different colors. The black busted one was at Torrie's being fixed. She examined the others, the next tape was deep indigo, one was black and red with no white, another was gold with black, and the last one purple, black, and gold. Odd having cassettes being different bright colors, well if they didn't work they'd make nice decorations. Turning her attention back to the tape deck she closed the case and flipped it over to the battery case. Taking a screw driver and unscrewing it her nails gripped the corners and tugged. The thing wouldn't open! Growling she wedged a flat blade screwdriver and wiggled it in a space between the lid and player. It suddenly popped off landing on the floor with a clatter. White powder lazily drafted the air. Inside were two ancient batteries and acid that had obviously leaked out long ago that now coated the inside and the lid. 'How long had those been in there' she wondered. The batteries were glued solid like the lid had been. Using the hand tool again and forcefully levering the empty batteries, they popped out with chucks of dry acid. She frowned and stood up making her way for the door for the garage. She was going to need a lot of baking soda, water and Q-tips to get that mess cleaned.

Thirty tedious minutes later and a couple of curses the battery acid was gone, well most of it, some tiny pieces were attached to the sides still, but she'd scrap those off later; at least the acid was no longer on the wire coils and it had not leaked into the cassette player itself. Other than acid in the battery compartment and dust coating the outside; there was nothing really wrong with it, other than it strangely stored six tapes at once. Lauren placed it on the table after carefully removing all the dust off of it. It stood there proudly showing its navy blue colors, chrome gleamed as the light of the desk lamp hit it. A yellow line traced the edges of the tape casing and a deep purple emblem stamped in the center of it. She was sure she had seen that marking before, something to do with the Autobots, but she shrugged it off. She lived in a large town but nothing compared to Dallas or San Diego, no even Denver, so what ever influence from the transformers didn't really affect the area. It was too small to be recognized by the government, unless a natural disaster hit the city.

"Well, might as well see if it works," she sighed. Opening one of the drawers she combed inside for a packet of batteries; instead she found the two from yesterday's dispute and placed them in the player. She now scanned the cassettes, she glanced at the red, black, and white one that she played earlier that day and decided against it. She didn't want to hear those voices again, it spooked her. Instead she plucked the indigo tape next to it and inserted it in the player. The tinker stood up and let her knee caps pop and stretched her legs as she went to the window and sat on the sill. The cool night breeze felt good. Drawing her concentration back to the player she flipped the ON switch and pressed play.

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Cliffhanger! hehehe... Poor Lauren is in for a huge surprize. 

Again sorry these two chapters are centered on humans, they won't be from now on.

Also I'm looking at writing a short fic on Rumble and Frenzy getting stuck in a mall the day before Christmas, a comedy of course. Anyone like that idea, good, bad, no, too crazy?


	3. IT'S ALIVE!

Howady folks! Sorry this is short but I wanted to squeeze this in, I won't be able to continue until the 11 so hang tight! This would be longer but na I leave ya'll in suspense. Also thank you GrimlockX4 and Psychic-Ghost for your reviews, glad you like the story!

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__Last Time: 'Drawing her concentration back to the player she flipped the ON switch and pressed play.'_

She heard the soft click of the gear spinning the cassette tape, the moment of truth, did it work? Cranking up the volume at full blast a voice suddenly boomed from the speakers, "If on Decepticon turf you happen to tumble, look out now, 'cuz here comes Rumble!" "What the," was all she could squeak out before the player violently shook in out of her hands. Lauren fell back wards off the window sill; the tape player flew out the window onto the balcony deck just outside her window. Peering just barely above the sill, Lauren watched helplessly as sparks and static erupted from the player, as it rattled and skidded over the edge off the second story deck and crashed in the backyard.

Even after hearing the padded thud the strangeness continued, the noise of gears shifting and an eerie mechanical cackle came. The girl dare to peer her head out of the window but quickly retreated and fell backwards staring as a giant robot head protruded from underneath the edge of the balcony. It had two navy horns one on each side, a mouth guard covered the lower half of its face, it stared back through a red visor with a cold, unemotional gaze.

A scream burst from her lungs, loud and clear, the robot quickly covered its audio sensors; but not before jabbing the eject button on its shoulder, releasing an enormous, indigo cassette tape. A deep, monotone voice thundered, **"Rumble eject! Operation: Exterminate!" **The cassette produced the same shifting sound as it transformed into a robot humanoid and crashed through the open window. The bulk of it also took out some of the surrounding wall. Lauren ducked, covering her head as glass and splinters of wood blew by. In the middle of her room stood a 6ft indigo transformer smirking, pleased with itself at making the pathetic organic shut up.

Soundwave hastily took in his surroundings. This was odd, last he remembered he was in an erupting volcano, then for a while a pawn shop before he lost power and blacked out. Now, from what he could tell, he was in a suburban area with a screaming meat bag staring at him. The wails of the creature stung his sensitive hearing. He released his minion to take care of that problem. Taking the current events into consideration he concluded that his first priority was to obtain more energy. The battery in his back wouldn't last long, it was draining fast, and Rumble would need some too, his minion only got a meager supply while being in his chest for a few seconds. Soundwave sensed no trace of any Autobot signals nor any Decepticons, but he did get an energy reading. It was weak but it would supply him an energon cube. He's large feet carried him to a wooden barrier with an asphalt road on the other side. An electrical line and natural gas pipe ran underneath it, that would do. He blasted a crater in the road and seized the gas pipe. Forming a cube, he quickly began filling it. Hopefully it would supply him, Rumble, and the rest of his tapes with enough power to get them going. That's when it hit him, the rest of his cassettes were not in him.

Back in Lauren's room the transformer stalked slowly towards its prey. Lauren's eyes darted back and forth, looking for an article or object to defend herself. She felt its eyes on her behind the visor it wore too. But the metal being must have glance to its side because it abruptly jerked its head at her desk and zoomed over grabbing the red and black tape crying, "FRENZY! Frenzy, speak to ME!"

Rumble's attention was drawn to the other cassettes scattered on the hunk of furniture. Hurriedly he scooped them in his arms and raced at Lauren, he leaped over her and out of the newly gaping hole.

Outside Soundwave was nearly complete at filling the cube. His visor turned to watch Rumble approaching him. The human's screams had stopped so Rumble must have finished his mission but what was he carrying? **"Rumble, what have you acquired?"** His voice hinted slight interest. Rumble blurted out, "That meat sack in there had Frenzy and the others scattered on its dissecting table, I think it was going to take them apart!" For once Rumble had an intelligent idea that made sense. Humans were stupid and savage.

Relieved at knowing the rest of his cassettes were unharmed, Soundwave dropped the gas pipe, grabbed the cube, and took off. Rumble followed. **"Rumble I sense no Autobots in this vicinity but do not cause commotion until we rejoin our fellow Decepticons. Current priority: low profile and refuel."** Rumble acknowledged his understanding.

Lauren slowly uncurled from her position on her bedroom floor. Her window was now replaced with an enormous hole. Glass and wood littered the floor and deck. Out on the lawn were traces of where the giant being had treaded. A smoking crater was all that remained of the back road and pipe line. 'This is going to be interesting to explain' as she observed the damage.

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Okay, I'm having difficulty knowing if I'm keeping Soundwave close to character, so I stopping here for now. 

I hope ya'll are still enjoying this. Please review, I love feedback! And if critism please be creative!


	4. Rip Van Wrinkle

To all my readers I apologize for the delay, I said this would be up dated on the 11 but school ya know and the unexpected (like my truck getting hit) got in the way. But this week I got really motivated to post because Lauren's birthday was this week and this was her birthday present. So Happy Birthday Lauren! I thank my mom for the thesaurus, this story would be really dull without it. **_"The text written like this is their telepathic discustions."_**

Disclaimer: I don't own Soundwave, Rumble, Frenzy, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, or Ratbat.

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For most cities, down town is active and lively; however, in an abandoned alley the atmosphere was still and quiet, in an awkward way. In the shadows, leaning against a brick building was Soundwave. He had his arms crossed. Even with a visor and mouth guard concealing his face, one could tell he was in deep thought. So much had happened in such a short amount of time, after losing the last of his power in the pawn shop he was suddenly reanimated at a fleshling's shelter, had his beloved tapes rescued from dismantling, supplied himself and his minions with energy before losing power again, and found a temporary hiding place. What a night! Yet through all this minor chaos he was unable to contact Megatron for backup cover. He concluded this to be highly unusual. 

After he and Rumble fled from the meatbag's dwellings they chose a densely populated area in town but had high brick structures for cover. These buildings were pitiful, compared to the constructicons work. After taking his fair share of the energon cube and giving a little boost of energy to his dormant tapes, he released them. He allowed them and Rumble to gorge themselves on the rest of the cube. He was glad they were safe from the danger of losing status again. Ratbat sat on a chain link fence and every once in a while licked his chops; energon remnants stained his cheeks. Soundwave sighed to himself, he knew he had taught his youngest table manners, but for now he'd let it slide, there were more important matters.

_Tap tap_

Looking up, Laserbeak's head poked over the rim of his helmet to greet him. _**"Have you thought of our next move?" **_Her voice squawked in his head.

"_**No" **_came his monotone reply.

The metallic condor remained perched on his head as he resumed thinking. Buzzsaw had silently been perched upon a rusty fire escape ladder with a cold blank stare. Down at his feet the twins were getting fed up. Frenzy broke the stillness.

"All right already! None of us are about to fall over deactivated and you said yourself that there weren't any Autobots around. Let's do something!"

"**Frenzy: Thinking, too irrational. Main Objective Still: Low Profile."**

Rolling his optics Frenzy crossed his arms and whined, "Come on, can't we do a little destruction?" His brother began activating his pillar drives with anticipation.

"**No, we will not draw attention to ourselves, we will keep trying to contact Megatron and obtain information. We are still on a spy mission and don't know our complete status." **He hate to admit it but they were in a vulnerable situation.

The minicon slumped his shoulders and kicked a soda can at the wall; which happened to ricochet and smack Ratbat. The youngest gave a painful electronic squeal as he flapped over to Soundwave's head and cuddled next to Laserbeak. Frenzy earned a glare from the avian cassette. He shot the bird 'the bird'.

Removing himself from the building, Soundwave trudged his away down the alley, the twins followed. Stopping a couple of yards away he glanced back and gave a low whistle. The black and gold condor dropped from his perch and glided to his master's shoulder, still silent as wood. All made their way for the exit.

Weaving their way through the maze of alleys and abandon streets, the party reached a local square. Still remaining hidden in the shadows Soundwave took in his surroundings. The building next to them appeared to be an electronic store; the sign read 'Best Buy'. A plan suddenly began forming as he nudged his eldest, Rumble.

The plan was simple Soundwave transformed into tape player mode while Rumble snuck in the store through the back and placed Soundwave on a shelf to pickup any conversations on current national events, simple really. But the longer Soundwave sat on the shelf he noticed that the gadgets and technology were not of what he remembered. They were still inferior to cybertron machines but there was something……………

15 minutes later………..

The back door of Best Buy flung open accompanied by a flying tape deck that sailed into the dumpster. A cheering whoop sounded from inside as the door shut. All the cassettes had been parked near by watching the strange seen. Laserbeak glided over to the rim and fished out Soundwave.

"So how did it go boss?" Asked Rumble without looking up from the article he was attempting to read.

On the outside, the cassette player was silent but for the cassetticons a stream of cybertronean curses screeched through the comlink they shared with him.

"_**What happened in there?" **_squawked Buzzsaw. First time he showed any signs life.

The player rattled out and Laserbeak's beak and transformed next to the dumpster. **"The humans discovered me."**

"_**What! They found out you were a decepticon!"**_

"**No, apparently my alternate mode does not camouflage among their gadgets."**

Laserbeak only looked puzzled. _**"How? To them you look like an ordinary tape player that they use everyday."**_

"**There weren't any in there, they labeled me as an out dated piece of machinery and said I was misplaced."**

The three fliers' optics seemed to bug out at this statement. "Well Soundwave you are getting old, extremely old to human's standards," snickered Frenzy turning to his brother, "You did put him with the music players right?" An annoyed 'yes' came from behind the newspaper, Soundwave's visor glowed a deep crimson afore questioning all of them. **"Do any of you know what an Ipod or MP3 Player is?" **Now Frenzy joined the blank look association. Soundwave took that as a 'no'. The communications officer looked over at Rumble who was occupied with a newspaper. He mentally groaned at his minions habit of reading and saving the 'Funnies'; back at the base a bunch were pinned all over a wall. "Man 'Garfield' really stinks today and the 'Peanuts' aren't even in here. This new one, Zits, is okay. It's making fun of stupid teenagers like the one that hangs out with the Autobots," said Rumble out loud to no one.

Looking at one of the corners Soundwave could identify numbers. **"Rumble, give me that newspaper."**

Rumble cocked an optic, "Why, you never read them, you say they're a waste of time."

The larger con shot his hand down to the ground twitching his finger for him to hand it over. The indigo con turned his back and resumed at trying to translate 'Blondie'. Buzzsaw swooped down and snatched the paper in his bill. The two cons started a game of tug-a-war which ended quickly as the paper suddenly ripped. The condor deposited the contents in his master's waiting hand. Disappointed, Soundwave frowned at the mess; he didn't even get the part he wanted. **"Rumble acquire more of these." **Said con groaned and dragged his brother with him. Both soon returned carrying a newspaper box. A punch to the glass case and the box spilled its contents. Rumble quickly snatched one, rolled it, and stuffed it in the crook of his arm, "This one is mine!" Ignoring him, Soundwave, Ratbat, and Buzzsaw fanned the papers on the ground. He checked every one, all were the same. Holding one up to eye level he became eerily quiet. Laserbeak notice his awkward silence and perched on his shoulder. _**"What is it?" **_He pointed to the date, the bird's jaw dropped. _**"This has to be a joke!" **_

"What is the big deal?" yelled Frenzy from the floor.

The condor glance down at him, _**"How long do you think we've been in status lock?"**_

"I don't know, a couple of days………….. a week?"

"_**How about guessing 23 years."**_

He cocked an optic at her, "SAY WHAT! So it's like 1907?"

Laserbeak looked at him unsurely, _**"No, more like 2007, 3 plus 4 equals 7, 2 plus 8 equals 10, carry the 1, 1 plus 9 equals 10, carry the 1, 1 plus 1 equals 2. So 2007."**_

Sparks buzzed from Frenzy's head, accompanied by a bang and thin trail of smoke. "Argh, stop with the calculus math, it hurts my head."

"_**Obviously."**_

He bent down and picked a paper, sure enough, 2007 was printed in bold, black letters.

"_**So if we are in the future," **_cawed Buzzsaw, _**"And Soundwave can't pick up any Autobot or Decepticon energy signatures, do you think we are the last cybertroneans on Earth?"**_

"_**Or at all!" **_cried Ratbat.

A chill filled Soundwave's frame.

"No," came Rumble, "The Autobots are still here." He showed them the page and pointed to the picture of the Autobot force.

"_**Well, what does it say?" **_asked the red condor.

"I don't know, I can't read people language that well, I have trouble with just reading the comics, forget a paragraph; they use big words!"

She swooped down next to him, _**"Point them out."**_

"This one."

"_**Eradicate"**_

"Here"

"_**Environment"**_

"here"

"_**Catastrophe"**_

"and here"

"………_**.I ought to shoot you, you bolts for brains, Optimus Prime!"**_

"Thank you!" he chirped and continued reading.

The communications officer shook his head at their bickering. Buzzsaw looked up at his leader, _**"If the Autobots are still here and we have no where a bouts of the decepticons shouldn't we search a better refuge than this place."**_

"Ratbat sniffled, _**"Yaw, but where?"**_

Soundwave pondered on this. **"We will return to the organ microbe's settlement where I was revived and hide there."**

"There," screech Rumble, "No way, that thing was about to dismantle Frenzy, the beak brains, and squeaky!"

"**Hiding there will give us numerous advantages, that human is the only one that knows of our presence, we will keep it that way and make sure it does not reveal our existence. The damage there is not large enough to draw the Autobots' attention and they would never suspect a Decepticon to return to the scene of the crime."**

"_**Also," **_joined Laserbeak, _**"We interrogate it for information on the status of our war and on future culture."**_

"_**Like Ipods!" **_chirped Ratbat.

Soundwave nodded but Rumble interrupted, "Okay, but how are we going to get it to cooperate with our demands!"

"_**Threats work out nicely," **_sneered Buzzsaw.

Rumble couldn't argue with that but it was Frenzy's turn. "But you know if we threaten its life it, we can't follow through, it'll attract attention."

"**We know, the human doesn't."**

Good point, this might actually work.

"_**Besides," **_whimpered Ratbat, _**"It still has Ravage."**_

Soundwave's optics blinked, he couldn't believe that he hadn't realized the absence of the panther until now. All of them except Ratbat swivel their heads for the black cat.

"**We're going back, that's FINAL!" **

The twins groaned.

* * *

Hope yaw'll enjoyed it. Next update will be awhile, it'll be posted on my user page. 

Ta ta for now.


	5. An Agreement on Unstable Terms

If you had the patience with me to wait for this chapter I can't thank you enough. This story was almost dicsontinued because alot changes in two years. This was orginally, (wishful thinking) to be finished in May the year it was published...yeah that certainly didn't happen. The good news is, a new chapter is up. The bad news, I won't be able to update again for quite a while, I'm not setting anymore dates since I can't keep them.

Disclaimer: I don't own Soundwave and his minions. I don't own Lauren and her family either, they are real people.

Also a big shout out to LordRiochi, he got me off my lazzy keester and made sure a finished this as quickly as I could. For those of you who wanted to see this continued, he does deserve some credit.

Written in a humerous, loving memory of 'Lady' Lauren's dog who recently passed away.

#IMPORTANT NOTE# **The statements in bold is Soundwave speaking. _Bold italics is Soundwave speaking on the comlinks. _**_And Italics are the cassetticons speaking through the comlinks._

* * *

Lauren sat dumbfounded in front of the new gaping hole that had quickly replaced her bedroom window. Glass and splintered wood littered the floor. She had remained in the exact position since the blue robot had knocked her down and escaped with the colorful cassettes. It all had happened so fast after she had turned on the cassette player. She dusted her glasses on her shirt and blinked twice realizing that the hole was still there. A measly tape player had abruptly destroyed her sense of security and half of her room. A real robot had transformed from a seemingly harmless machine, and what were the chances that it happened to her? She had seen the Autobot troops only on the television and newspapers; what was one doing in her hometown? However, these robots did seem to have a certain… air about them. Most Autobots she had seen seem friendly, but the one in her bedroom seemed almost threatening through his visor. Her thoughts shifted to the big, brand-new 'window'. How would she explain this to her family and the destroyed lawn or smoking crater in the middle of the street?

Muttering in her head she tried to reason, "Mom and dad surely can't blame this on me; I mean how could I have done something like this? But I am considered the technology wiz in the house, mom and dad don't know much on those type of things, and when people don't understand things they make a scapegoat, demons, vampires, witches, apparently me in this situation. Even if I tell the truth, that one of the transformers was actually here in our backyard; saying that Bigfoot visited sounds more believable. Hopefully a neighbor had to have heard the ruckus and witness the ordeal. Honestly, why would one of those giant robots be here, Torrie has lived here longer than I have, practically her whole life, and nothing big happens here that would catch the White House's attention, let alone an alien race. What should I do about this hole, hmmm nice breeze though."

Lauren's attention suddenly snapped back to reality. In the night air a giant object sailed. But it was not a plane she realized as it came closer, for it flew too low. A red visor gleamed from it. The mechanical being tapped its shoulder, opening a compartment in its chest, and releasing two oversize tapes, one red and black while the other blue from before.

Laruen barely had time to run out of her room when Rumble whisked through the hole and Frenzy crashed through the roof a few feet in front of the window. The girl dashed through the hallway into the playroom and dove behind a couch. The steady pound of footsteps became uneven and halted at the entrance to the room. Laruen held her breath, "Maybe if I stay out of sight and creep to the bathroom I can escape." The pair of footsteps started again, only slower, and it sounded as if the two had split to cover the room faster. She heard the sound of cabinets being opened on one side of the room while the other seemed to be tapping something with springs, possibly testing her youngest sister's rocking horse. She couldn't move, both blocked any chance of escape. Training her ears she heard the sound of a slinky being played. She nearly jumped out of her skin when the two started laughing, followed by the sound of the slinky being tossed aside. The footsteps were getting closer to her hiding position. A red visor peered from the side of the couch, accompanied by an eerie grin. "I found it," it called. The red and black one came around the other side grinning too. Both reached down to grab her, but Lauren suddenly bolted over the sofa, despite her size, and the two cassetticons crashed into each other.

The game of cat and mouse continued. Laruen stormed down the C curved staircase screaming. Rumble stopped at the top of the stairs while Frenzy madly jumped over the railing to block the girl a few feet from the foot of the stairs. Lauren skidded to her left on the wood floor in her socks and managed to slip from Frenzy's grasp. She ran into the sunroom and through the door into the dining room, followed by Frenzy. Lauren quickly upturned the large oak table to stall time and ran into the kitchen. Frenzy easily leapt over the furniture and made it to the kitchen entrance when suddenly a skillet pan collided with his face. The robot went down. Lauren had herself wedged against the wall to the side of the door, holding a skillet. Panting, she carefully and slowly inched from the unmoving, metallic body, staring at the immense size of it. She grimaced at the three-dimensional imprint of its face now adorning the bottom of her mother's cooking utensil.

Suddenly a pair of hands seized arms her from behind and held them close to her body. Rumble had walked around the dining room and kitchen to attack the girl from behind. Lauren madly swung the skillet behind her head but since she could only bend her elbows and wrists she couldn't reach the robot. Rumble struggled to keep hold of the human's elbows behind her back while avoid getting smacked by the skillet. "Frenzy, get up," he snarled, "It's like trying to hang onto a tusk less walrus!"

Frenzy slowly sat up and shook his head; however, the human, having realized how useless the pan had become in its current condition, now flung it at his head. Bang, clatter, clatter, echoed in the kitchen. Frenzy was down again. Rumble grumbled and scooted to his brother with the human.

Lauren frantically searched her mother's kitchen for more artillery while the robots were distracted. A ladle sat next to the fridge. Twisting and turning her right arm free, it dove for the utensil, but not quick enough, for a black metallic hand grabbed her arm and stopped her short. "No, no, no!" screamed Lauren's head. She lashed her arm toward the fridge, but only managed to snatch a handful of fridge magnets.

The twin robots pinned both of Lauren's arms to her sides and hoisted her through the breakfast nook and out the back door, all the while avoiding further damage to the house. As they dragged her across the porch, Lauren spied the family's fourteen year old Pomeranian, Lady, cowering under the balcony stairs and bushes. "Stupid dog now decides not to guard the house…" but her thoughts were cut short as her captors drug her toward the giant being kneeling in the backyard. It may have not been standing at its full height but the presence it deemed was of some ancient, blue, pagan god of death in all of his glory; deeming down on a pathetic mortal's soul that it was about to steal just by having it look at his blood red eyes. Not to mention he had horns on his head to go along with his grim reaper demeanor. The way her captor's held her arms spread loosely but firmly near her side she expected them to start chanting, "Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice," as if she were an offering to King Kong himself.

A loud, shrill call snapped her out of her petrified trance to the balcony and her room on her right. Squinting through her glasses in the dark, a condor's silhouette sat perched on the balcony's railing. Its body gleamed metallic yellow and black in her bedroom's light. The condor's eyes glowed crimson red too. "So this is what those cassettes really are," shivered Lauren. The rustle of leaves to her left caused Lauren to shift her gaze. Hanging upside down on a limb in the maple tree was a purple robotic bat with red eyes. The bat twittered from its perch and cocked its head curiously at her. Now starting to shake, the girl returned her gaze at the behemoth before her. On the enormous robot's shoulder was another condor, again with red eyes, however, this bird was red, black, and white. She recognized that color scheme, the cassette she and Torrie had listened to in the truck with the eerie voices! Lauren suddenly became self-conscious in her surroundings. Six robots, she was surrounded by six mechanical beings with a threatening presence. Adrenaline kicked through her system, her amygdala flicked the switch in her head, igniting survival instincts long used by prehistoric humans. Flailing in the grip of the twins Lauren screamed without thinking, "Don't eat me!"

The blue giant seemed taken aback by her statement. "**Silence human**!" Lauren gazed up in petrified terror, "Why? What do you want?"

"**Searching for a missing comrade**."

"Comrade? I don't know your kind have never been here!"

Laserbeak leaned down Soundwave's shoulder, beak clicking, wings shaking, and taser activating in anticipation. Soundwave reached a hand to stroke the back of the condor's neck. "**Settle down**." From the organic creature's brainwaves he could tell the thing was about to enter shock and having it pass out would not make things any easier. Plus, this human was their only lead.

"**Where is the autobot head quarters**?"

"I don't know! Why are you here? This town doesn't get any attention even from the White House!"

So they were in an area not really known to Autobots. Good, they would not suspect them here.

"**What news of the Decepticons, where are they**?"

"I don't know, I don't watch the news, I think on some distant planet, it doesn't really involve me so I don't know!"

"What do you mean you don't know? Decepticons are the most feared beings in the universe under Megatron! You're telling us they aren't on Earth anymore!" snarled Frenzy who began twisting her arm.

"IIIIIEEEEEHHHHHH! You're hurting my arm!"

Soundwave winced, his sensitive servos still adjusting to not hearing after so many years. "**Frenzy, cease**!"

The red and black cassetticon stopped and looked up at his master, "huh?"

Soundwave leaned down to face the human. If it was true that there were no more Decepticons on Earth and the fact that this human had no knowledge of what each faction's insignia looked like; they would have to play their cards right. But not all hope was lost.

"**We ask this because we picked up a decepticon transmission coming from this area**." "We did!" blurted the twins in unison. "_**Silence**_," transmitted over their comlinks. Soundwave directed his gaze back at Lauren. "**We are a secret Autobot fraction hunting down the last remaining Decepticons on Earth, not even your federal government knows of us, and we are licensed to kill**."

"Then what the hell was that earlier!" Lauren directed to the gaping hole in her bedroom wall and the new skylight adorning the ceiling. "**I was resting in stasis and you jolted me awake and disrupted me working**."

"You had two ancient batteries in you."

"**Part of my disguise. I was not to be bothered or discovered, unfortunately you did, I had to retreat and my purple comrade retrieved the rest of my surveillance group**."

"Then why come back?"

"**We cannot find another place to make a post nearby, and you're the only one here that knows of our presence, sounds like a good hiding place to me. As long as you keep your oral factor shut**."

Lauren flinched her head back at the threat simmering beneath but replied, "Whoa, whoa, I am not keeping alien solders in my parents' house! I'm American and the third amendment states that Americans do not board soldiers! "

"**Your laws do not apply to us**."

"If you're staying here they do! And just what will you do when you find them?"

The heavy giant rose to full stance, "**Annihilate them, they are a danger to the Autobots and humans. They kill anything ruthlessly**."

Lauren paused and thought quickly, "Protect my family then!"

Soundwave just stared at the talking chunk of meat. If he wore no visor, one would see his optics were cocked.

"No really," Lauren continued, "Aren't Autobots suppose to work with humans? If you promise to protect my family from these 'Decepticons' , then I will agree to allow all of you in the house.

The communications officer stared down at the proposal. Rumble whined over the comlink, "_Come on! This human is just asking to get stepped on_!" Truth be told Soundwave was just as fed up with this homo sapien standing up to him.

"**No, we shall do what is necessary and board in your structured residence**." He stood to continue further with his point. "**Rumble, retrieve the canine from under the stairs**," The blue con grinned and fetched the pudgy ball of shaking fur. He sneered in his Bronx accent, "Nice mutt, be very unfortunate if something were to happen to it." Lauren squirmed in Frenzy's grip and twisted her arm free and flung the kitchen magnets at his head. The magnet appearing as a pineapple connected with his temple and he immediately dropped Lady and began to dance the hula in the yard. Lauren would have laughed but the red and black one was about to throttle her. She quickly tossed a music note magnet at him. Frenzy abruptly stopped and stood at an opera stance while singing "Figaro!" Soundwave stood in surprise as his twin cassettes made fools of themselves on the lawn. "Soundwave, I can't help it! Make it stop!" gasped Rumble.

"**Buzzsaw, assistance required**!" Boomed the leader.

Buzzsaw let out a battle shriek and leapt from the railing. She didn't have much time, but Lauren quickly shifted through the grass for more magnets. The metallic raptor swooped down, only to see a magnetic alphabet collide with his face. He landed on the ground as a timid, harmless pigeon pecking the ground and cooing.

"**Laserbeak go**!"

"_Slag NO_!" the bird squawked at him.

Rumble shouted over Frenzy's off key singing, "It doesn't take a magnet to turn Laserbeak into a chicken!" Soundwave watched in horror as his troops were reduced to bumbling idiots by minor human trinkets. Speaking of the human, she was now picking up more as she clumsy ran for the back of the house. The dog was already there scratching against the glass. Soundwave's right arm dove and snatched her; but she was quickly released as his arm began to act on its own and spasm. "_**Frag the human femme**_," he thought as he caught a glance of a magnet in his palm. His left made a move for her but she held many more trinkets in her hand, poised to throw.

"**FIX THIS**!"

"NO!"

"**FIX THIS OR ELSE**!"

"Or else what? If you agree to my terms, not threatening my family, protecting them from the Decepticons, and cause no further damage to our house, all of you may stay."

The decepticon was speechless if he wanted a place to hide and recover; he was going to have to sink to this creature's terms. He had already humiliated his troops by lying that they were Autobots but hiding here and finding information seemed the best option, for now.

He slowly lowered his left arm, his right continuing its seizure, it was starting to hurt. "**We will, I promise**."

Lauren glared at him not convinced, "You swear?"

The cassetticons could not remember the last time he had shown any outside expression, but he did, he sighed. "**Affirmative**."

Lauren looked him in the visor, trying to spot the movement of an optic. "Okay," she lowered her arm and went to remove the magnets from Rumble, Frenzy, and Buzzsaw. The three loitered dumbfounded. The girl shoved most in her pocket but left a few in her hand a she approached Soundwave. "Keep your promise," she warned before she removed the magnet.

He recoiled his hand and rubbed the palm. Laserbeak hissed and shifted. "_**Easy**_," he reassured her. Frenzy shook his head, shaking off the effects, "Why you little pile of scar…..ppppp…..!" Before Soundwave could order a 'stand down', Lauren had chucked a new magnet at his head and he now began to do the carmelldansen. "Sounndwwaaavvveeeee!" he growled through clenched dental plates.

A transmission swept across all of the cassetticons, "_**We need to cooperate with the human's wishes. Okay now, destroy later**_."

Buzzwas began to back a resistance but Soundwave's stare made him think otherwise. "**Kindly remove the magnet**," Lauren jumped in surprise at the change in the robots demeanor, "**He tends to be a bit of a hot spur**." As the human tended to Frenzy, Soundwave transformed in to his alter form as well as Laserbeak, Ratbat, and Buzzsaw who slid into his chest compartment. Rumble stooped down and plucked him from the grass. "_Are you out of your mind, be courteous to a human? I suppose you want us to act like service bots! Do it's laundry, rub its feet, and give it piggyback rides_?"

"_**Rumble, do not aggrandize**_."

The indigo robot huffed a sigh and went to his twin who was trying to get the fuzz out from between his plates. Lauren stood by, unsure of what to expect next.

"**Take us to your barracks of your base**," came from the boom box. Lauren stared at the box in Rumble's hand.

"My what?"

"**Take us to your quarters**."

That didn't seem to help the situation.

"I don't keep a coin collection."

Frenzy intervened, "Gramps, let a young, hip fella who knows the lingo do this." He faced Lauren, "He wants to go to your room."

The human nodded and led them through the back door. Lady quickly scurried through the frame and hid under the couch. As she made her way toward the stairs Lauren glanced at the wrecked dining room and diverted towards it. "Great, my parents are going to kill me. Here help me lift this," she instructed toward the heavy, oak table. The twins leaned against the stair well. "Why should we?" "Because if I get into trouble, you're in trouble," she snapped back.

"Was that an answer or a threat Rumble?"

"I don't know Frenzy, either way I don't know how we would suffer from not moving that thing," replied the other as he set Soundwave on an end table.

Lauren stalked towards them, "You'll help me or else," she dangled magnets in her fingers. The twins quickly complied. After the cleaning the mess downstairs and trekking upstairs, the girl groaned, "Fudge muffins, what am I suppose to tell my parents about these two holes!"

"Lying always works," snickered Rumble.

As the weight of the stressful evening bore down, the girl gave an exasperated sigh, "I am not lying to my parents because A. lying never works in general, B. what lie could sound reasonable to explain all this, C. how am I going to explain you guys, and D. that's my parents entering the driveway!" she cried, trying to control her voice. Her sense of security from intergalactic attack had been shattered, but in the mind of a teenage girl, angry parents dooming the threat of a grounding still remained worse. She heard shouting outside, and Rumble and Frenzy suddenly changed and hid in Soundwave's compartment. Lauren immediately grabbed the little box and shook it. "Well, how do I explain you guys?" Her anxiety rose like a thermometer in boiling water with each thumping footstep that made its way upstairs to her room.

"_**You will not give us away, human**_," boomed the leader's voice in her mind.

"Where, where did that come from?" the girls head swiveled in surprise.

"_**I am a telepath; I can speak to you through your primitive mind**_."

Lauren's intrigue quickly changed to horror as her father's beat red face appeared through the doorway.

"Lauren! WHAT DID YOU DO! I'M GOING TO DRAIN YOUR LIFE SAVINGS TO PAY THE DAMAGE FOR WHATEVER STUNT YOU PULLED ON MY HOUSE!"

Lauren quickly backed from the raging man, her voice lodged in her throat. Her mother appeared too trying to soothe her father from ripping out the consoles that lined under the television for cash.

"_**If you wish to get out of this mess, repeat everything I say to your superiors**_."

Lauren stood rigid and barely nodded her head in accord. As she listened to Soundwave's words she hardly recognized her voice as she attempted to explain to her father. "The gas line under the road burst and launched a chuck of asphalt through the window and out the roof." She remained motionless, her parents stood stumped. "Lauren dear," spoke her mother, "what's wrong with your voice, you're speaking monotone like a robot."

"I…..'m trying to remain…. calm?" the girl stuttered beneath a shrug.

Her father snorted, "IF SO, THAT DOESN'T EXPLAIN HOW THIS DAMAGE IS GOING TO GET PAYED FOR!" He continued unsympathetically ripping out cables and controllers.

"Steve, stop that! We should be thankful our baby girl didn't get hurt or worse!" Lauren's mother snagged her daughter in a bear hug and smothered the teen to her bosom. Lauren clenched Soundwave in her hand as her windpipe was being crushed.

"Well yes Bonnie but…"

"But nothing, we can call the gas company tomorrow about this."

"How do we know even if it was a gas pipe?"

"Steve, we both know Lauren is the electronic technician of the house, she wouldn't make up something like that in such a serious situation. Now put down that Nintendo or Xbox, I can never tell, and get the other kids to help clean up this mess. We don't want anyone cutting their little piggies on glass do we?"

Lauren's father dumped everything on the floor and fetched the rest of the family. The glass and wood was swept and vacuumed while the side of the room with holes was closed off by a tarp that hung from the ceiling. All furniture was moved to the secure side making the area a bit cramped since half of the room was inaccessible.

"Now Lauren, if things get too cold or hot or wet or bugs come through, you can stay in Rachel's room till the damage is fixed," replied her mother.

"No thanks," Lauren slammed her bedroom door and pressed an ear to the wood to make sure her mother had left. It was then she noticed that the alien robot in disguise was still clenched in her hand. Making her way to the desk and placing him in the lamp's light, she peered curiously through her glasses. "So what now?" she asked only to receive silence. "Hey, you still in there, HEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOO?" Still no response. Lauren rose and glared down, "Fine, I don't want to talk to you either."

She reached for her pajamas but stopped and stared at the shiny, blue box. Could he still see in that form? It bothered her so she changed in the closet. Making herself comfortable in bed and safely tucking her glasses on the nightstand, she gave the silent alien guest one last look before turning out the light. "Whatever you guys say, I'll say 'Good Night'."

Soundwave felt all minds turn toward him at the foreign statement.

"_What was that_?" asked Ratbat.

"_A parting greeting_," replied Laserbeak.

All of the cassettes' minds settled down for a needed recharge. "_Hey Soundwave_," nagged Frenzy, "_what do we do now_?"

"_**Wait**_."

* * *

Hope it was worth the wait.

You heard the good and bad news, now for the scary news. I almost deleted this story, why. Well as I said, alot has changed in the pass two years and for Lauren it has sadly taken a nasty turn, her family dog that she since she was a baby passed away and just in the pass two weeks her family lost their house so how I decribe her normal life at home, minus the transformers, is completely gone and it became very hard to write this. We both felt like abandoning this but she did want to see where this would go and how it would end, so I promise I will finish this!


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